Apple today unveiled iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, featuring a stunning new user interface. iOS 7 is completely redesigned with subtle motion, an elegant color palette and distinct, functional layers that make it feel more alive. The typography has been refined for a cleaner, simpler look, and the use of translucency and motion makes even simple tasks more engaging. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari, Siri and introduces iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes.

"iOS 7 is the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "To create it, we brought together a team with a broad range of expertise from design to engineering. With what we've been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as an exciting new beginning."

"There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation-it's about bringing order to complexity," said Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of Design. "iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system."

iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface, but will be instantly familiar to the hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users around the world. The new interface actually makes your phone appear bigger because everything is designed to take advantage of the entire screen. The redesigned fonts look amazing on the Retina display, creating even sharper text.

iOS 7 introduces Control Center. Now the controls you want to access quickly are all in one convenient place. With just one swipe from the bottom of your screen, you have access to controls for Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Do Not Disturb, and the ability to adjust screen brightness, pause or play a song, jump to the next track and stream your music with AirPlay. Control Center also gives you instant access to apps such as Clock, Camera, Calculator and the Flashlight.

With iOS 7, Notification Center is now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature in Notification Center gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events.

With improved Multitasking in iOS 7, developers have the ability to enable any app to multitask in the background with a new API. Users have the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background.

AirDrop is an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby. When you’ve got something you want to share, AirDrop shows you your contacts close by. Just select who you want to share with and AirDrop does the rest. AirDrop transfers are peer-to-peer so you can use it anywhere, without any network or set up required, and transfers are fully encrypted so your content is protected and private.

iPhones are used to take more photos around the world every day than any other camera, and with iOS 7 the new Camera app features filters so you can add real-time photo effects. The Camera app now includes a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras - video, photo, square and panoram - with just a swipe.

iOS 7 includes a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organize your photos and videos based on time and location. You can zoom out to see all your photos organized by Moments, Collections of Moments and Years. iOS 7 includes iCloud Photo Sharing, the easiest way to share just the photos you want with just the people you want. With iCloud Photo Sharing, family and friends can contribute their own photos and videos to your shared photo streams, and the new Activity view displays updates from your shared streams all in one place.

Safari's redesigned user interface lets you see more of your content - starting with full-screen browsing. The new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there’s a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs. With iCloud Keychain, your passwords and credit card information are securely stored and available on all your devices, so navigating password protected sites or autofilling during transactions is simple and secure. Enhanced Parental Controls allow you to automatically block access to adult websites or only allow access to a specific set of permitted websites.

Siri sounds better than ever with new male and female voices and includes Twitter search integration, so you can ask Siri what people are saying on Twitter. Siri also now has Wikipedia integration, providing access to the world’s most popular Internet reference site. Siri offers Bing web search within the app and the ability to change device settings and play back voicemail.

The Music app has a beautiful new design and includes the new iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. iTunes Radio is the best way to discover new music. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV, you'll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalized your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive "first listen" premieres from top selling artists, Siri integration plus the ability to buy anything you hear with just one tap.

The iOS 7 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.

I personally don't like the look of the new OS either, but I will keep and open mind. I remember not liking when Apple changed the iTunes icon from Green to blue, and now I like the look of the blue iTunes icon.

This in one the things I like about this forum. We're all Apple fans but respect one another's opinions even if they aren't in favor of Apple.

The biggest thing I initially find I do not like about iOS 7 is the flat look of the icons. For me this has always been one of the things I liked about Apple products, developers took the time to create attractive artistic icons. Any 10 year old can draw the new Apple iOS icons. What's this going to lead too... are all developers supposed to recreate/create kindergarten looking icons for the 800,000 apps on the App store to keep consistent with the new theme?

The biggest thing I initially find I do not like about iOS 7 is the flat look of the icons. For me this has always been one of the things I liked about Apple products, developers took the time to create attractive artistic icons. Any 10 year old can draw the new Apple iOS icons. What's this going to lead too... are all developers supposed to recreate/create kindergarten looking icons for the 800,000 apps on the App store to keep consistent with the new theme?

You're right. There will undoubtedly be a mix of the new and old icons, which will not help the overall look of iOS 7. It certainly won't look consistent and unified. Personally, I hate the new standard icons. The current ones are so detailed and beautiful in comparison. Most of them look absolutely gorgeous on a Retina display. I was really hoping for something more professional and classy out of iOS 7. More blacks, grays and finish. Not all this Romper Room stuff.

I am now a Samsung user when it comes to phones. And it's not about the icons or even the OS . It's about having a larger screen and removable storage. My wife still uses an iPhone, but she's even thinking about switching when her contract is over. And we are big fans of Apple. So I don't think Apple needs to worry about the love it or hate it look of the icons in iOS 7. They really need to start worrying about people like us leaving the fold for larger screens. I'm sure the rest of iOS 7 will come together nicely. As will the final set of icons.